Advent calendars

[KanyesVest]

I have to admit, I'm utterly bemused by the very enthusiastic attitude to advent calendars on MN. I don't know if it's just my family or everyone I know but aside from a cardboard poster with well worn doors and some very lacklustre glitter on a few hailos, ours were never fancy and certainly not treat filled. In spite of seeing a cadbury one in SuperValu for the first time last week, I went off to a local toy shop today and got myself the children one from my childhood.

Is the Irish take on advent calendars really different to the UK, or is it just me?

We never had them growing up. My eldest is five so this year I wondered if she's missing out and I went and bought three of them in Lidl. I explained them and after dinner the last two nights they've opened them. There's a lot of confusion from younger two about why they can't just play with the thing. So far we're a bit underwhelmed..

I love advent calendars, I have been doing them since my now teenage dc were babies. Lego and play mobile were the standard for years, they looked forward to them so much. For the last few years I have been doing my own, this year the each got a mini Christmas tree for their room on Dec 1st and then every day they get a decoration for it. I've been buying the decorations for months now, got some really gorgeous ones. They all love it, even the boys!